Tag Archives: army

The ships are heading back but the army guys are still there. They are a little annoyed that they aren’t being put to more use but there are a lot of people there to help. That includes many people there to try and make a buck in the process. Nothing out of the ordinary though, just hard working contractors looking to help out with their skills for a reasonable price.

My father-in-law said that it’s been pretty crazy though. A war zone without the bullet holes seems to be one of the best descriptions. His only complaint right now are the cold showers he has to take because they don’t (or didn’t, it’s been a couple days) have hot water. Hehe. I guess with the temperature in the high 30s, most of them don’t really mind the cold showers too much.

Well, sounds like my father-in-law might be back sooner than everyone originally thought. Nothing wrong with that! It all seems sort of funny though if they do come back after only a couple weeks. That boat trip down took a lot of time and I’m sure a fair number of the army bunch might be a tad bit annoyed if they don’t spend a lot of time down there after roughing it on the boats. ;)

It sounds like Pensacola Florida might be the base of operations for the Canadian crew. Not entirely sure if it’s the whole contingent but it sounds like at least the army engineers and construction crews might be. Pensacola is pretty close to the whole area but it would mean trucking in supplies. Since New Orleans doesn’t really have a working port at the moment, it makes sense.

Oh, and the return travel for the army personel will be either by air or land. ;) My father-in-law sent me an email this morning and it sounds like a lot of his men won’t be making any plans to travel on a boat any time soon, if ever again. :)

Well, my father-in-law is on his way to the Gulf of Mexico now. Sounds like he’s in for a bit of a rough ride as Tropical Storm Ophelia is going to be directly in their path.

I guess he got in a little trouble though when the ships were leaving Halifax. Apparently it’s proper naval etiquette for all sailors to stand at attention on deck. Being an army guy, he and the rest of his fellow army guys were all waving at the people there to see them off. Ooops. Guess the sailors should have at least given them a run down on what you’re supposed to do on a ship. ;)

The HMCS Toronto sailed out under an Acadian flag though. My father-in-law took his along, planning on holding it while standing on deck. Apparently they took all the flags that people brought and raised them on the mast. Cool. He’s been joking about the last time a bunch of his Acadian relatives were put on a boat and sent to Lousiana. ;)

Hurricane Katrina is getting closer to home. We just found out this evening that my father in law is being deployed to Louisiana. He’s a military engineer and will be leading a group of engineers likely in rebuilding efforts.

He’s looking forward to it but I don’t think he’s going to enjoy the way he’s travelling. Apparently he’s being transported on the HCMS Toronto – not something he’s looking forward to. He joined the army and not the navy for some good reasons. ;)

I’ll see if I can keep track of what he’s up to over the next month or so. Both he and my mother in law were planning to come visit us in a couple weeks. Guess that’s on hold now. ;) It’s for a good reason though.